Last night Denis Rodkin debuted in Swan Lake -- the Mariinsky II was the testing grounds for his skills and I believe the audience would agree that he passed with flying colors. Rodkin has a rather old-school approach to the role, reminiscent in fact of Alexei Fadeyechev in the role... Romantic era port de bras but soaring jumps.

Skorik was his lovely, polished Odette-Odile. She has made incredible strides in her interpretation which is now well honed and highly professional, infused with the appropriate nuances and coloring.

Last night Denis Rodkin debuted in Swan Lake -- the Mariinsky II was the testing grounds for his skills and I believe the audience would agree that he passed with flying colors....

Skorik was his lovely, polished Odette-Odile. She has made incredible strides in her interpretation which is now well honed and highly professional, infused with the appropriate nuances and coloring.

I agree with this completely, Catherine.

Oxana Skorik

From the moment that she appeared there was a noticeable maturity and a special quality. The best I can do to describe it is to call it a Purity. There was a Perfectness to what she was doing. Yet it was alive with drama and fineness of motion. For example, her hands over her head were beautifully brought together and positioned. They were poetry.

There was a sense of calligraphy in her arms. They were speaking. (I’ve felt something similar with the unusually talented and one of a kind Simone Messmer (SFB, formerly ABT)). It’s not a common quality in ballet, perhaps being more apparent in Far Eastern dance.

There was such an overall fineness to her dance. Her timing and phrasing were wonderful. There was exceptional Cleanness and Clarity in her spins, especially noticeable in her arms.

Above all there was a Perfectness in her Totality. There was something classically fine about it. There was no excess, no need to embellish or amplify. But it was also Soulful and Alive. And it had Depth. She seemed to know exactly where she was, what she was projecting and it was done with complete surety, both in her dance and in her character. It was as if she had achieved a summit. All that I’ve seen her do in the past had finally come together in this culmination of Magnificence.

And still there was a a sense of progression and direction. Nothing was going to stop here. Tomorrow was going to offer new accomplishment, new meaning and new Magnificence.

I’ve mentioned before that I love a feeling of continuity in Swan Lake stemming from and echoing the famous Act I White Swan duet. This duet is the soul of Swan Lake. Rather than see the other highlights such as the Odile contrast, the lovely dance of the four little swans and character dances being distinct, I love to see them reinforce and be integral with the Enchantment created by the duet. Last night there were passages where this was highly noticeable. Both the dancing of the little swans and the big swans that followed the duet echoed it’s fineness. This dancing was outstanding and was a continuation of what Oxana Skorik had accomplished and the spell that she had created. There were also times in the Act II character dances that achieved the same feeling. The White Swan Act III, as usual, brings back much of this aura.

Denis Rodkin (Bolshoi) was excellent as Siegfried. I will admit once again that my attention is almost 100% on the ballerina, but what Oxana Skorik did could only be possible with her trust in her partner. He was rock solid physically and heartfully supportive emotionally. His own dancing and presence were also extremely fine.

Of further interest is that the initial Act III Corp de Ballet dance patterning seems somewhat restructured. There is a new kneeling of the swans at the right and an asymmetrical patterning that also becomes more dynamic and focussed to the right. The whole thing also felt slightly more streamlined. I thought it was effective and very well put together.

As usual there is so much more that could be said. I’ll just add that the Corp de Ballet has been outstanding this year, always to be counted on for consistency in holding any performance together and making it shine even more.

This was the second work, the first being "Switch," choreographed by Jean-Christophe Maillot.

I can barely penetrate the surface in trying to describe the "Woman In A Room" performance. Besides being absolutely brilliant, the implications for the future of lyrically beautiful and ballet related expression are immense. If anyone can kick open the doors to this new frontier, Diana Vishneva could well be the person. The extent of possibilities explored here is huge, ranging from studies in simple poses and pure motion to all forms of dance expression and physical-nonverbal communication.

Most impressive to me was the range and depth of Diana Vishneva’s facial expressiveness. Only Alina Cojocaru, from what I’ve seen, can compare. Credit for the abstract but beautifully lyrical dance motion must go to the choreographer. Still, could anyone make it shine like Diana Vishneva ?

The work begins with Diana Vishneva in front of a black and white almost stained-glass picture of a tree. She just stands there and the imagery is a world in itself. She is lit up like a painting by Vermeer. Then she contemplates the picture and her remarkable range of facial expression is captivating and remains so throughout the evening. She moves around and the beauty of her simple motion is pure loveliness. Eventually she begins some dance motion and, although it’s abstract, it flows with ballet-like gracefulness. After that, she starts pushing the table while running in place and the contrasting effect is delightful and brilliant. So on and on it goes, one episode just as compelling as the next, ending with her traveling through the audience.

The response was overwhelming. She probably would have taken curtain calls all night if the audience hadn’t appreciatively decided let her go home after her 30 minutes or more of nonstop solo performing.

It’s 2 in the morning and I really want to get to bed, but I do want to post at least this much.

La Bayadere

Alina Somova — Great !

This was the performance that I’ve been waiting almost ten years to see. All the individual elements that I’ve seen her do so well finally came totally together tonight. The best I’ve ever seen her do. Brava !

Kimin Kim — Wow !

Is there anything that he can’t do !?

Isabella Boylston (ABT) (Gamzatti)

She did beautifully !

Tatiana Tkachenko, Nadezhda Batoeva and Yulia Stepanova (listed, but I can’t identify her positively yet) as the three Shades were all excellent.

Hi, vrsfanatic. Did Isabella attend your school? I had a chance to chat with her briefly and she’s a lovely person. She mentioned studying ballet in Florida. I’ll try to discuss her performance as thoroughly as possible, along with Kimin Kim, who had an exceptional night, at another post. By the way I thought that Isabella’s Swan Lake with ABT last summer was excellent.

Alina Somova

La Bayadere

A few more quick thoughts.

I Thought That She Was Great !

(Have I already say that?)

What was most noticeable was her Linear, Lyrical Fineness throughout. All her dancing was extremely beautiful. Her spins, for one thing, were done with wonderful clarity and surety. Her positioning in the lifts was breathtakingly sculptured.

Her jumps have always been very impressive, both in height and grace. Her’s were so airy at one point that when Kimin Kim followed with his, and he’s a spaceman, I almost didn’t pay attention at first.

Her facial expression was very good and very focused, often projecting well beyond herself, especially at her entrance as the temple dancer. When she used theatrical expression, as in her smiles, she did it with fine theatricality and it worked very well. It looked like she had really been practicing this.

There was no use of extremely high lifting of the leg, 160 degrees max, which was consistent with her overall refinement.

Some of her imagery could have been hung in the Louvre Museum of Art. Her final dancing at the palace looked like a work by one of the great French Romantic painters. All the participants in her confrontation scene with Gamzatti had the same quality.

There was an overall fineness to everything that she did.

She Was More Beautiful Than Ever And It Was A Very Beautiful Evening.

(I’ll try to get to Kimin Kim and Isabella Boylston at a future post)

The Royal Danish Ballet — Napoli

I saw them for the first time tonight and thought that they were very enjoyable. Their style seems to be centered on footwork that requires lots of energy and physical strength, favoring the men. My only related video look has been of Johan Kobborg and Alina Cojocaru performing the Flower Festival in Genzano. Johan’s dancing set my standard. I’ll have to watch it again and see how it compares.

Most of the dancing is in the third act. One man did some beautifully intricate airy footwork before the final group. One of the ladies also did some lovely gliding footwork. The style involves a lot of complex transitions from beating the feet together into jumps, etc. Very impressive !

The audience gave the company a very enthusiastic response.

[correction made -- I corrected the title to La Bayadere instead of Swan Lake. I try to write most of these as soon as they happen, ending rather late at night, so some errors might occur]

Last edited by Buddy on Fri Apr 11, 2014 1:04 am, edited 2 times in total.

I look forward to your post on Boylston and Kimm. Yes, Bella was a student in our school, The HARID Conservatory. She is indeed a lovely person. We have now had two alumni perform with The Mariinsky. Thank you for your posts.

Her sense of Dramatic Timing and Positioning, all done within the context of beautiful grace and lyrical flow, make her one of a kind in her outstanding and emotionally embracing artistry.

Her dancing has total surety, very noticeable in such things as spins and lifts. Her spins are secure, dynamic and very cleanly done.

Her portrayal is masterfully constructed. Various emotions are subtly or powerfully revealed and modulated. She can go to the edge with her expression and then reel it in completely, showing that she has total control and knowledge of where she’s at and what the effect is. She handled the ‘demise scene’ with a fine sense of poetic control. There’s a slight touch of Diana Vishneva in the depth, versatility and power of her overall portrayal, yet it’s her own.

She added some very personal elements to her character. In the beginning when she comes out of her house and doesn’t see Albrecht she starts curtsying, pretending how lovely she would feel if he were there. After the aristocratic Bathilda gives her her elegant neckless in appreciation of her innocent beauty, she carries the train of Bathilda’s gown as she enters the house. It’s a gesture of total innocence, touchingly in contrast to the grand gift that she’s just received, showing her to be the simplest and most innocent of human beings. The effect is enormously touching.

Her dance moves are extremely well constructed with a sense of meaning. They convey statements.

There’s much more.

In Sum She’s A Remarkable And Beautiful Artist.

Tonight’s Giselle was one of the overall best that I’ve seen. The women were especially fine in their dancing, Nadezhda Gonchar in the pas de deux, Tatiana Tkachenko as Mirta and Kseneya Ostreikovskaya and Alisia Sodoleva as Mirta’s assistants. Alisia Sodoleva once again commanded my attention with her elegance and interest. There were two points when she tilted herself so far off center in her forward motion gesturing that it looked like she might tip over, but she was in total control. The Corp de Ballet was a dream !

Constantine Zverev as Albrecht, Aleksei Timofeev in the pas de deux and Ilya Kyznetsov as Hans all did very well. Each had their very noticeable elements of excellence.

Another Extremely Fine Evening At One Of The Finest Mariinsky Festivals In Ten Years.

Sergei Polunin, whom I’ve never seen before on stage and whom it's difficult to evaluate based on a ten minute appearance, was impressive and entertaining as Ali.

The pas de trois with Ekaterina Kondaurova, Sergei Polunin and Andrei Yermakov was very will danced. The Jardin Animé was lovely. Tatiana Tkachenko, Nadezhda Batoeva and Sofia Ivanova-Skoblikova were all very fine in the dance of the three Odalisques. Nadezhda Gonchar danced once again with lovely line and gracefulness as Gulnare.

There was some fine bravura dancing which all the men handled very impressively.

Tomorrow there should be a near full moon over the Mariinsky to mark the end of the Festival. It was a beautiful sight tonight as well. The old Mariinsky Theatre remains a true gem especially when lit at night.

A very quick report from this afternoon’s “A Creative Workshop of Young Choreographers.”

The last work, the best received and probably most entertaining, was by a "first-year" Vaganova student, about 17 years old -- “Hungarian Rhapsody” -- music by Franz Liszt. (“Choreography, lighting design and sets by Maxim Sevagin”). The dancers were Vaganova students in their mid and early teens in all white, classy ‘Ballet Imperial’ costumes. The choreography was a delightful and bouncy, basically ballet piece with traditional Russian folk dance subtly blended in. The students were a pleasure with their youthfully smiling, slightly coltish, yet ‘Vaganovanly’ excellent, dancing. It was a one of a kind sort of thing that worked very well, somewhat similar to the work that preceded it.

The work before was “Cinéma,” choreographed by Maxim Petrov to the music of Erik Satie. It was a Charlie Chaplinesque sort of piece, set in that era, with a blending of Broadway and vaudeville oriented dancing, yet done with ballet gracefulness, that made it highly effective and entertaining. It was also very well received.

Viktoria Tereshkina, the only ‘prominent’ Mariinsky dancer that I could identify, appeared in the first and longest work, “Adulte,” by Ilya Zhivoi to the music of Mozart. Its highlight may have been its moments of eye catching flights of motion and posing, that were often very physically demanding. In one instance, Viktoria Tereshkina jumped on the edges a very small chair with her partner sitting on it. It was quite a feat.

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